


hardwired

by captainhermioneswan



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:49:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27014566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainhermioneswan/pseuds/captainhermioneswan
Summary: lydia robbins, a surgical resident at seattle grace/mercy west, is a new mom and and incredible surgeon. she's could be awake for hours on end at the hospital or she's could be at home with her daughter. being a surgeon is difficult sometimes, but lydia makes it workseason 6-
Relationships: Alex Karev/Original Female Character(s), Mark Sloan/Original Female Character
Kudos: 6





	1. one

lydia robbins walked through the door of the newly minted seattle grace/mercy west hospital to get ready for her first day back at work. lydia had taken a leave of absence for a few weeks since she had just had a baby. the woman walked up to the coffee kiosk and bought her morning coffee. she made her way to the resident lounge where she saw izzie and made her way to say hi.

“izzie!” the brunette called excitedly running to hug the pixie haired blonde.

“lydia!” the blonde squealed. izzie stood up and hugged her friend. 

lydia put her bag in her cubby next to meredith’s and put her scrubs on. 

“how’s baby emily?” izzie asked the girl. 

“she’s perfect, except she barely sleeps, but that’s expected.” lydia told the blonde girl. 

izzie noticed the bags under lydia’s eyes and figured they were from the baby.

“god, every time i see you i feel awful about emily. so again i’m so sorry.” lydia said, sitting on the bench next to izzie.

“stop feeling bad!” izzie hit lydia’s arm lightly. “yeah we were together but i had a tumor and it was making me crazy. never apologize for having emily, i love her so much.”

lydia always felt bad because she slept with alex when izzie was having hallucinations of denny. lydia and alex got drunk and spent a night together which resulted in baby emily. when izzie found out, she wasn’t mad, she was actually happy that her friend was going to have a baby.

suddenly a small redhead with a pixie haircut put her stuff in george’s cubby and immediately felt sad about the man's passing.

“oh, hey. you can’t put that in there.” izzie told the girl, who lydia assumed was from mercy west.

“oh, they told us to grab a cubby,” the girl said innocently, looking at izzie.

“yeah, i know. it’s just...we keep it empty for a reason.” lydia told the new girl.

“can you just take your stuff out? there are some empty ones over there you can use.” izzie asked politely.

the girl looked over to where izzie pointed out and said, “i don’t think so.”

“can you please?” lydia asked again. 

the brunette girl next to the pixie looked at izzie and lydia, silently judging them.

“i said take it out.” izzie commanded the red head. 

“great. i got the crazy one next to me.” pixie said to her friend. 

they let out a laugh and izzie gave them an offended look.

“oh, you want to fight?” izzie asked them.

“cause we will. i may just be getting back from maternity leave, but you’re tiny. i will crush you.” lydia said, trying to intimidate the pixie. she stood up with izzie and got ready to pound the girl. she heard alex call their names but they ignored them.

“like she said, i’ll fight you, you’re pretty tiny. we could take you down in a couple of seconds.” izzie said and with that the two girls lunged at the pixie haired girl.

alex came up behind them and grabbed izzie so she wouldn’t hurt the girl. he gave lydia a stern look that made the girl back off. the three surgical residents left the room and met cristina and lexie at the main staircase. all six of them looked out and saw a sea of orange scrubs and it made lydia feel sick.

“they took george’s cubby.” izzie said to everyone.

⋆◦★◦⋆

everyone was in meredith’s hospital room, she was recovering after she gave her liver to her father. lydia was standing next to lexie grey, watching the mercy westers out the window.

“their locusts- comfortable locusts feeding on our surgeries.” meredith said from the comfort of her hospital bed.

“it’s rude.” lydia said, staring into the sea of orange.

“there should be a couple of days where they act like guests before they put their feet up on the coffee table.” izzie said, picking at something.

“and what’s with the orange scrubs? what ours aren’t good enough for ‘em?” lexie asked everyone.

“we ran out. they’re on back order. randall from the supply company says there'll be here in a week. that's what you learn when you lie here all day.” meredith said looking out the window.

“why bother ordering new ones? we could just give these to our replacements.” lydia said sadly, walking away from the blinds and sitting in a chair next to meredith’s bed.

“we're not gonna be replaced by anybody.” alex told the mother of his daughter. 

“if I have to become a coroner.” steve said sadly.

“no one is becoming a coroner.” meredith said to steve. “cristina, tell him.”

“tell him what? they're here. it's over.” cristina said to everyone.

lydia looked around and picked at her finger nails.

meredith gave a big speech that didn’t really inspire anyone but lydia enjoyed listening to her tell it. “hey. we are not some stupid hosts. they can't invade us. they can't attach themselves to our faces and then while we're eating spaghetti, explode out of our chests and skitter across the floor. this is our ship. this is our ship.” 

“excuse me. are you ... are you quoting a sigourney weaver movie?” lexie asked her accusingly.

“shut up.” meredith said and lydia laughed and stood up. 

the girl walked around the room, feeling bored and leaned her head on lexie’s shoulder.

“that's what happens when you live here. You watch a lot of tv.” izzie laughed next to alex.

“we own this hospital. we were born in this hospital. and we will hold this hospital with our last gasping breath.” meredith preached.

“i really don't want to be a coroner. i don't like dead people.” steve said worriedly. 

“don’t worry, no one will be a coroner.” lydia said to the boy, hoping to provide him with a little comfort.

“go out there and go get surgeries before they take them.” meredith yelled. “go! and I want a full report by the end of the day.”

lydia and the others left the room and walked with lexie towards the pit where she was stationed for the day.

⋆◦★◦⋆

the group quickly made it down to the pit and cristina was the first person to speak up. “okay, where do you want us?”

“uh, at this point, anywhere is good.” owen hunt, chief of trauma, said to her, clearly in a hurry. 

“at mercy west we do zones.” a man in orange scrubs said. 

lydia looked away from owen and to her left where she saw the two girls from earlier and a guy. she’d be lying if she said he wasn’t attractive but she put that thought aside.

“when it's super busy, we just give everyone a zone, a space. the nurses put a person in that space, you know it's your patient. helps you get to 'em quicker.” the man continued. 

“yeah, well, this is the e.r. not a school yard. we're not playing four square.” cristina said, clearly annoyed.

“i like it.” owen said, surprising everyone from seattle grace.

“what?” lydia asked confused.

“it's a good idea. let's try it. what's your name?” hunt asked the new doctor from mercy west.

“jackson avery.” he replied.

“dr. avery. dr. hunt. it’s all yours. zone away.” owen said and left, leaving jackson and the mercy westers to start and the doctors from seattle grace not knowing what to do next.

lydia got a page from miranda bailey and made her way to her.

“hey dr. bailey.” lydia said to the blonde woman.

“yeah hey, i don’t actually need you, it’s just that you are really close to callie and callie’s dad is in the lobby.” bailey told her, running her hand through her hair.

lydia looked over to the lobby and callie’s dad was just sitting there, no doubt waiting for his daughter. 

“well did you tell her her dad was here?” lydia asked bailey.

“i was just about to and i wanted you to come with me. let’s go.” the woman said and walked over to where callie was standing at the nurses station.

“did the gentleman from the waiting room ever find you?” bailey asked the orthopedic attending.

“what?” callie asked her confused.

“your dad’s here callie.” lydia told the woman, pointing to him.

“what?” callie said again, this time more prominently.

she walked to the waiting room and went to talk to her dad. lydia didn’t follow her because she didn’t want to invade her privacy. she saw things where getting out of hand when a priest stood up and started walking toward the two. 

“you can’t pray away the gay!” callie shouted and walked away with lydia’s arm around her shoulder.

“hey, are you ok?” lydia asked callie giving her a hug.

“yeah i’m fine, go get a big surgery.” callie told her and walked away.

⋆◦★◦⋆

lydia was paged to the pit and was assigned to a criminal with lexie and a mercy wester, one of the girls for this morning who she now knew was april kepner.

“hi, i’m dr. kepner.” april introduced.

“oh handcuffs. i’m dr. robbins.” lydia pointed out walking up to the patient.

“i'm not an ax murderer. i just broke in to someone's house. dude came after me with a golf club, beat the crap out of me. look, you don't need the cop. i can barely move.” their patient told them, desperate to get rid of the cop.

“oh, we'll keep the cop.” april said nervously.

the man groaned loudly. lexie, lydia, and april rolled over the man and looked at his back.

“he's got multiple contusions and ecchymosis over his back.” lydia said, examining his back.

“he's gonna need lumbar and thoracic films. down.” lexie finished and her and lydia rolled him back down.

the man exhaled deeply and lexie looked over at april, the latter writing something down in a little red notebook, and said, “okay, and by the way, it was one organ, an appendix. it wasn't a psycho cabal.” 

lydia looked over at the two, confused and april said, “oh. good to know.”


	2. two

lydia and lexie were rolling the criminal into a new room and lydia saw that lexie was distracted by april. to be honest, lydia was as well. she didn’t want april to take her spot at seattle grace/mercy west. she needed this job to support her and emily.

they stopped walking and the criminal started talking to the two surgeons. “you gonna fight back at some point? or just let her bury you?”

“she's not burying us.” lexie said to the man.

“she's new. she's just finding her footing.” lydia said, trying to be kind. 

“she found her footing on the back of your neck.”the burglar said, laying on the gurney.

“what do you care?” lexie asked the man.

“i don't know. I like you two.” he said looking at the girls.

“find her open window. everyone has one. a weak spot, undefended. an open window or a key hidden in a fake rock.” he told them.

“yeah, well, you're a criminal, and we’re not.” lydia told the man. she was not about to commit a crime against april kepner.

“it's not a crime to do to her what she's doing to you.” he said.

“which is what, exactly?” lexie asked, wanting more information.

“making you look like an idiot.” he told her. the girls looked at april and felt angry.

a few minutes later they rolled the man, whose name they now knew was billy, into a new room. 

“with this kind of injury, there is a chance that you could end up with severe weakness in your legs.” lydia told billy, reading from his chart.

“that's okay. i carry the stuff out with my arms, not my legs.” billy said, and lydia let out a quiet laugh. lexie looked at her in disapproval.

“this is serious, billy.” lexie told him.

“you're gonna fix me up fine. listen, i've got a present for you.” billy said, reaching into his blanket for something. lydia realized billy took out april’s notebook.

“you stole her notebook?” lydia exclaimed.

“keep it down. you want my cop all over this? don't you get it? this is her open window.” he told them.

“we don’t want her open window.” lexie told him.

"you're not just a good doctor. you're a great doctor. you are the future of medicine. only you can keep you down. and my favorite is, uh no one can tell it's plastic surgery.” billy read april’s personal thoughts from her notebook.

“oh, my god.” lydia said putting her head in her hands.

“i think it's the nose, but it could be the boobs. what do you think?” billy pondered. 

“give it back to her, and stop reading it.” lexie told him sternly.

“future of medicine alert.” billy said quickly and threw the notebook to lexie, who thankfully caught it.

“you haven't seen my notebook anywhere, have you? small, red, i was holding it all morning.”

“um, um, I'm not sure.” lexie stuttered. 

“so much for that photographic memory.” april said snottily.

“good luck finding it.” lexie and lydia said as she left.

⋆◦★◦⋆

lydia, lexie, alex, and cristina all sat together at lunch and talked about what happened with their mercy westers. lexie and lydia were reading april’s notebook. lydia felt bad, but she was so invested she just couldn’t stop.

“this blows.” alex said.

“getting your ass kicked?” cristina asked.

lydia and lexie looked over at the both of them. but didn’t say anything.

“shut up.” alex said with a mouth full of food.

“i hear yours got a standing ovation in the e.r.” alex said to cristina.

“yours is the one who saved the whole e.r. from the maniac with the hammer?” lexie asked cristina.

“okay, he didn't save anyone. he did some stupid ninja leap and then tripped a guy. i used actual medicine to stop a person from dying.” cristina told everyone.

“well, lexie and i’s has a notebook, a notebook that she takes notes in, notes of a very personal nature, and we stole it.” lydia said, a bit ashamed.

“you what?”cristina asked.

“give it.” alex commanded.

“no. no, i-i am not sinking to their level. they are vindictive and they are aggressive and ... and they are not team players. and if we are not carel, that spirit is going to infect our hospital. we have to fight it.” lexie spoke up, hitting her fist in the table.

“which is why you stole her notebook.” cristina said.

“and read it.” alex said with his mouth full.

“well, she’s not a very nice person.” lexie said. 

“hey.” izzie said, walking up to the table with two coffee’s in her hands.

“oh, score. you rock.” alex said and reached out to take one of the coffee’s.

“oh, no. that’s not for you.” izzie said to him and moved her arm away. 

lydia wasn’t really paying attention to their conversation but what happened was that izzie got a coffee for her mercy wester and no one really approved of that.

“dudes...they’re not here.” alex told them.

“hallelujah.” cristina said, eating her lunch.

“they’re not eating. they’re working.” alex realized.

everyone put down their food and rushed out of the cafeteria and to their respective work areas.

⋆◦★◦⋆

lydia, lexie, derek, and april were walking down the hallway when derek started to speak. “where are we at with billy sheehan?”

“he's ready. i helped put him under. he's prepped and positioned.” april said to dr. shepherd.

“i thought we said i was handling that.” lexie said, clearly annoyed april did her job. 

“oh, yeah, we did. i just wanted to make absolutely sure everything was ready for dr. shepherd.” 

“well, your first day here, and already you're making my life easier.” derek said happily.

“yeah, dr. kepner... no, she's not just a good doctor. she's ... she's a great doctor.” lexie said, stopping. “in fact, if you ask me, she's the future of medicine.”

“lexie cut it out.” lydia told her. the girl thought what lexie was doing was rude.

“only you can keep yourself down, right?” lexie said. at this point doctor shepherd left and went into an different room. “by the way, I can tell.” lexie said pointing to her nose.

“d-dr. shepherd, i just need a moment.” april stuttered to the man who was scrubbing in the next room.

“lexie, that was mean. yeah we wanna sike em our, but that was cruel.” lydia said, scrubbing her hands with soap and water.

⋆◦★◦⋆

after surgery the girls, lydia and lexie, were with derek in another room with billy sheehan, talking to billy about how his surgery went. 

“ah, the surgery went pretty well, mr. sheehan. we had good bone alignment.” derek said to to man who was recovering from a surgery.

“and I'll be back to my old self? i'll be able to get around?” billy asked them.

get around? yes. uh, to where you were? no, probably not. probably about 70%, which is good considering your injuries.” lydia told the man, writing something down in his chart. derek nods and leaves the room.

“i guess that means I only steal 70% as much stuff.” billy joked.

“billy, you see this? we noticed this afternoon there were splotches all over the page, and, they're tears. she was crying when she wrote this stuff. she's scared. and, and these stupid little sayings, they make her feel better. Tthis is her comfort. we stole her comfort from her. you and me, we're taking things from people, and we're leaving them at 70%.”

⋆◦★◦⋆

lexie and lydia walked into the resident lounge to find april and thankfully she was there. lydia convinced lexie to apologize to the girl because what they did was wrong.

“i'm sorry. it must be hard, being the new people, being the invaders.” lexie apologized. lexie gave april her notebook back. “but that's no excuse for you being a... look, i-i don't like you. but what I did, that was over the line.”

lexie immediately left the room after she sort of apologized.

“hey april. what my friend did, that was rude. yeah i read it too and i’m really really sorry about it. but i would never steal it from you.” lydia told the girl. she walked up closer to april and sat down on the bench. she patted the spot next to her and april sat down. 

“our patient, billy, stole it from you and gave it to lexie. i tried it get her to give it back but she wouldn’t and she just kept reading it. i’m really sorry april. i do like you. i hope we can be friends.” lydia explained.

“thanks for telling me the truth. i really appreciate it. i might just take you up on that offer.” april said. april left the room with her little notebook and lydia left to go to meredith’s room

⋆◦★◦⋆

lydia sat in the chair next to meredith’s bed while cristina sat next to meredith in her bed. they were all watching bad hospital tv.

“how was your day tess?” meredith asked, looking at the girl.

“well, it was a whirlwind of emotions and i miss my baby girl, that’s pretty much it.” lydia said to her friend. 

she couldn’t wait to get home to her baby girl. suddenly alex walked in with a piece of paper in his hand. meredith turned the tv off.

“tell me everything. did you beat them? did you kick their asses? come on i want a full report. everything that happened.” meredith questioner eagerly.

“izzie left me.” alex said monotonously.

lydia was in total shock. she couldn’t believe a word she was hearing. she couldn’t believe izzie would leave, and why would izzie leave. lydia stood up from her spot beside meredith and pulled alex into a comforting hug, knowing that he needed one in a time like this. she broke the hug and stood next to him. 

“she wrote a note and she left me. i don’t know if she’s coming back.” alex said.

“what do you mean, she left where did she go?” meredith asked concerned.

lydia heard meredith tell cristina to hug him but the brunette got there first. she basically tackled the man in a hug so tight, so comforting, alex never wanted her to let go, but they weren’t meant for each other. they were only friends. alex knew lydia had a thing for mark sloan and lydia always supported alex and izzie. so alex would always support whoever lydia was with.


	3. three

lydia has been home with a crying, sick baby for a few days and she’s missed a lot of work but her friends have all helped her out. she heard that april kepner had been fired and she was actually really upset about it.

she made her way to work when she saw derek, isaac, and a giant spinal tumor.

“woah that’s a huge tumor.” lydia said, walking into the room. she looked at the scans in deep thought and didn’t know how derek would be able to operate on it.

“these are my scans. the tumor is mine. i'd like you to take it out. i’d like you to try. one doctor said it was bad circulation, another one, pinched nerve. but when the pain started to interfere with work, I decided to run an m.r.i. on myself.” isaac said.

derek’s pager beeped. “isaac, has i known it was your scan i wouldn’t have...” derek started.

“i have been to every doctor derek. every time, it’s the same thing. they look at the tumor and they’re defeated. but not you. you were inspired. that’s why i knew i was right to come and work here. i needed to meet you.” isaac said to derek. 

lydia thought everything isaac was saying was very empowering. there was no way derek was gonna say no.

“you got a job here to meet me?” derek asked him.

“i have researched every neurosurgeon in this country. i know their statistics, i know who wins the most prizes, but I also know who takes the most risks. that's you.” isaac said to derek. 

lydia was just watching the conversation unfold. she had no reason to be there. she didn’t have anything to do though so she wanted to stay and listen to the two men.

“isaac, i know you believe i can take this tumor out, and i wish i could. but this surgery will kill you.” derek said to the man sadly.

isaac didn’t give up. “take the scans. look them over. but stop your mind before the part where it gets to ‘no.’ think ‘yes.’”

cristina walked into the room and lydia waved to her. 

“shepherd, i’ve been paging you. shunt patient in o.r. two.” cristina said to him. lydia got her attention and pointed to the massive tumor on the wall. “screw the shunt. let’s operate on that.”

derek took cristina, lydia, and isaac to the m.r.i. room to give isaac an m.r.i and they met up with mark in the process. something lydia thoroughly enjoyed doing. 

see, lydia and mark had this unofficial thing going on. they weren’t a couple, but everyone thought they were. lydia wanted to be an official couple with mark but didn’t want to break what they had going on.

“you know what this is about right?” mark asked.

“mmh-mnh.”

“your no longer daddy’s favorite, so you’ve gone in search of some crazy ass tumor to get his love back.” mark told him.

“actually, it’s about my patient. i haven’t made up my mind yet. i’m just looking.” derek said.

“isaac has a cord tumor?” callie asked coming into the room.

“oh it’s awesome.” cristina said.

“look.” lydia pointed out from her place next to mark.

“awesome in a bad way. it’s eaten five levels of his spine. wait you’re seriously not considering trying to take it out.” callie showed them.

“of course he is. he’s shepherd.” cristina said.

“it’s a bad case of telephone right?” arizona robbins, lydia’s older sister, walked in the room. “isaac’s got a bone spur or a herniated disk, not a... he diagnosed an osteosarcoma case for me a month ago. i thought it was a shadow, but it turned out to be the tiniest little lesion on an x-ray.” arizona said sadly.

“that says more about you than it does him.” mark said sipping his coffee.

arizona giggled sarcastically, “i’m sorry, do you know who isaac is?”

“no idea.” mark answered honestly.

“mark!” lydia gasped and hit his shoulder.

“hey what’s everyone,” lexie walked into the room after arizona. “oh, a spinal tumor. I read about a case at mayo where the surgery took 17 hours. the head surgeon had four rotating assistance, one of whom just administered fluids.” lexie said, showing us her knowledge.

“ok, you know what? don’t try and lexopedia your way on this. this is my tumor.” cristina said to lexie.

“hey, cristina, i was here way before you were.” lydia told the surgical resident.

“what happened to the patient at mayo?” arizona asked lexie.

“he died. that’s why it only took 17 hours.” lexie said sadly.

“hey, I just heard. isaac has an inoperable tumor?” owen asked.

“it’s isaac’s tumor?” lexie asked.

“okay, yeah, yeah. boo-hoo, okay? who says it’s inoperable?” cristina said. waving her arms in the air, grabbing everyone’s attention.

“cristina.” derek points

everyone started to talk at once and no one was listening to each other.

“why aren’t you all at your surgeries?” richard webber asked, walking into the room. “go get to you o.r.’s. don’t screw with my schedule on day one.”

everyone but derek filed out of the room and headed to their appropriate surgeries and places in the hospital.

⋆◦★◦⋆

lydia found herself in a room with a bunch of other surgical residents and derek shepherd. she stood next to cristina yang.

“microsurgery is about precision. the microscope changes your perspective radically. the hand-eye coordination required can be learned, but right now I need naturals. each one of you will get a chance to guide this pen through the hole in the cup. the person who makes the mark closest to the president's nose and doesn’t hit the side of the cup gets to scrub in.” derek showed everyone how it was supposed to be done and lydia thought she was ready. mark gave her a little pep talk beforehand and it gave her a lot of confidence.

“who wants to go first.” derek asked. 

everyone raised their hands and derek picked steve who was in the front and ultimately didn’t make the cut. next was pixie, whose name lydia now knew as reed. she didn’t get it either. more people went until it was jackson avery’s turn. he did it perfectly and lydia was amazed.

“nicely done. if somebody improves on that, i’ll be out of a job.” derek said.

“well, i guess you might need to retire, then.” cristina said cockily.

next was cristina, lydia had complete faith in her, but that faith was shot down when she messed up. next up was lydia. to say she was nervous was an understatement. before she was confident but that was all sucked out of her. she walked up to the machine and picked up the pen. she poked the pen inside the cup and didn’t hit the side of the cup. she did it just as well as jackson and didn’t even realize it.

“wow, great job lyddi,” derek said and lydia glared at him for the nickname but softened up her look as she smiled and high fived jackson, as they were the only two who did it.

⋆◦★◦⋆

lydia was walking the halls with cristina, talking about random nonsense when cristina nudged her and pointed towards lexie, who was in the residents lounge. 

“is she holding a diaper?” lydia asked cristina.

cristina didn’t answer and instead pulled the girl into the room to question lexie about her diaper.

“is that what i think it is?” cristina asked accusingly.

“what? no. no!” lexie said defensively.

lexie hid the diaper behind her back and lydia went behind her and pulled it from her hands.

“a diaper?” lydia questioned.

“it’s for the surgery. please don’t tell anybody about this.” lexie said, reaching out to grab the diaper back.

“that’s genius. you never have to leave the o.r. you can hydrate all you want.” cristina told her.

“you’re mocking me.” lexie smiled. “fine. whatever. it’s not like I was gonna use it anyway.” she tried reaching for it again.

“of course you are. this is the definition of hard-core. you’re like an astronaut. this is surgery nasa-style. you know what? You put it on right now. we’ll guard the door.” cristina said, walking towards the door.

“hey, are you gonna wear one for the surgery too? you know, for me?” lexie asked innocently.

lydia thought about it but ultimately decided not to. “um i don’t think so, but i won’t tell anyone and i’ll be there for you for moral support.” the girl said throwing two thumbs up.

lexie and lydia got ready for the surgery and were pushing the patient down the hall. lydia couldn’t help but notice lexie pulling her diaper down. lydia threw her a look and lexie ignored it. lexie sent her a look back that said it’s uncomfortable, i can’t help it.

“anybody opens their mouth and their fired.” derek said and the the door opened. “you too.” he said to isaac.

“oh, dr. shepherd, i was just describing our new schedule to some of our board members.” webber said to derek as we pushed isaac through the doors. “this must be... mrs. taylor. and she’s undergoing a craniotomy.”

“it’s mr. taylor, chief.” derek says as isaac waves to the chief.

“we’re, uh, still working out a few kinks, clearly.” webber said.

“we should go. keep the trains running on time. nice meeting you all.” derek said, clearly rushing.


	4. four

it’s been an hour into the surgery and basically nothing has happened.

“the dura’s opened. let’s get out first look at the tumor.” derek said.

“wow.” jackson said, looking at the tumor.

“that’s um... wow.” lydia gasped in awe.

“the vessels are more intricate than the m.r.i. showed. there’s no way I can get the tumor out without rupturing one and killing the cord.” derek said.

“so, uh, what do we do?” jackson asked him.

“if i start t-2, i could avoid hitting the feeding vessels, so maybe i should go lower. there’s less vascularity around t-7, so that does see better no?”

“it does seem better. and you’d only get function loss below the chest.” lydia commented.

“but i risk rupturing the anterior spinal artery there.” derek spiraled off from her.

“probably. the tumor tapers off there.” lexie said, watching them do the surgery.

“higher is better maybe? either way I risk sending them into hemodynamic collapse.

“ he’s not talking to us, is he?” jackson lowered his voice and directed his questioned to lexie and lydia.

“not at all.” lexie said at the same time as lydia said, “nope.”

“t-2 shows less potential for bleeding. at t-3, the vessels have...increased.” derek said, seemingly focused.

“if I clip the draining veins without getting the feeders, they'll burst.” he continued.

“dr. shepherd, i really think it's time for you to take a break. it's been over 8 hours.” lexie commented.

lydia looked over at derek and back at lexie, silently agreeing with the girl.

“i could go under the tumor here, but I might cut the radicular artery.” derek ignored her.

“let's look for, maybe if I go..”

“dr. shepherd...” lydia tried.

“dude, if you need a break, just take a break.” jackson told lexie.

“please. I don't need one. I'm hard-core.” lexie fought back.

“are...are you wearing a diaper?” jackson asked the girl.

“shut up jackson.” lydia told the boy.

“At least bend your legs.” lexie told derek.

“you can't bring yourself to use it, can you?” jackson asked mockingly.

“shut up! shut the hell up.” derek shouted. he turned to lexie. “grey, I don't need a break. If you do, take one. either of you open your mouths again, you're out of the o.r.”

lexie ran out of the o.r. and bumped into bailey on the way. “bathroom break.”

“um, dr. shepherd.” bailey questioned.

“what?” derek snaped.

“okay, I'm sure this is a completely authorized surgery, but I thought you might like to know that the chief Is scheduled to do a surgery across the hall in o.r. three shortly. so if you're planning on doing something, anything, you might want to do it soon.” bailey told derek. lydia’s and jackson’s eyes flew to bailey and back to shepherd.

“thank you, dr. bailey.” derek said. bailey left the room and lydia continued working over isaac. 

⋆◦★◦⋆

a little while later webber bursted into the o.r. and confronted derek. “dr. shepherd. dr. shepherd. am i to understand that you canceled your surgeries today to operate on a spinal cord tumor? dr. shepherd.” 

webber walked angrily toward derek shepherd until he was right next to him. “the rate of infection for this patient is increasing every second you keep him open. not to mention the thousands of dollars you are wasting standing here doing nothing. so I am demanding that you close this man up. close him up and relinquish the o.r. right now, derek.”

“okay. that’s it. let’s close him up.” derek said calmly. 

webber turned around and stopped the clock at 10:22:23.

⋆◦★◦⋆

the surgery was completed and lydia followed derek to isaac’s room. derek and lydia started to explain what happened during surgery to isaac.

“there was no way of taking it out without risking your life.” lydia started.

“and to cut the cord at this point, i just- i won’t do it. you’re still walking isaac. let’s reassess this in a few months.” derek explained to isaac.

“i understand. you worked hard today. you’re tired.” isaac said.

“i’m sorry.” derek said, grabbing isaac’s file and heading to walk out the door with lydia.

“you’ll try again tomorrow.” isaac told him.

“tomorrow? no i can’t try again.” derek said to the man.

“the tumor is inoperable, isaac.” lydia said soothingly.

“i can’t fix this.” derek said.

“go home. sleep on it. we’ll talk more tomorrow.” isaac chuckled.

lydia took isaac’s file from derek’s hands and left the room.

⋆◦★◦⋆

lydia went home for the night and opened the door to her apartment that she shared with her sister, callie, cristina, and owen. the brunette woman was so glad to be home. lydia said goodbye to the babysitter and picked up her newborn baby.

lydia carried her daughter to the kitchen and she put emily down into a portable crib so that she could make dinner for her family. the brunette made pasta for her, arizona, and callie, then put it in the microwave until the couple got home.

the girl fed emily while she waited for arizona and her girlfriend to come home. lydia heard the sound of keys from outside the apartment and soon enough arizona and callie walked through the door. the mother quickly finished feeding her daughter and put her back in her crib. 

“hey zona. hey cal.” lydia said, setting emily down.

“hey lyds.” arizona said, taking off her jacket and setting it on the back of the couch.

“hey lydia.” callie said, putting the keys on the hook.

“so, cristina texted me and said her and owen are on call tonight so they won’t be home.” lydia stood back up and headed toward the kitchen to warm up their dinner. “i made us pasta.”

“great, i’m gonna go get changed.” arizona said and walked into her bedroom.

lydia brought emily into lydia’s room and set the baby down into her crib and wished her good night. the microwave beeped and lydia took their dinner out and plated it for them. she took their plates to the table and poured two glasses of wine for arizona and callie and water for herself.

“so how was isaac’s surgery?” arizona asked, taking a bite of her dinner.

“boring, honestly. we stood there for ten hours and did absolutely nothing.” lydia replied.

the three girls ate their dinner and talked about everything and anything. they talked about arizona’s day as well as callie’s until lydia brought up something that’s been on her mind for a while.

“arizona, we’ve lived with each other since you’ve started at the hospital and it might be time to change that.” lydia started out carefully. “meredith asked me to move in with her because she has an extra room. she wants me and emily to be closer to her and alex.”

“why, i’m your sister. i’m perfectly capable of helping you and being there for you.” arizona said. 

lydia could tell she was getting angry and a bit riled up. The brunette could see where her sister was coming from but still thought she was being unreasonable. lydia signed and ran her hand through her hair.

“ok, arizona, calm down. maybe you should hear her reasoning first before you lash out at her.” callie said, trying to calm her girlfriend down.

”i declined her offer at first but then i thought about emily. it would be great if she was closer to her father and you know that.” lydia told her sister.

“i understand that but i don’t want you to move out. i love living with you.” arizona said, trying not to let her anger slip out.

“we’ve lived with each other our whole lives, i think it’s time to change the way we live our lives. besides, don’t you think you and callie should have more privacy?” lydia said, getting up and putting her dishes in the sink. “also, don’t you think it’s way too crowded with me and emily here?”

with that dinner was over, arizona knew that she wouldn’t be able to change her sister’s mind. arizona put hers and callie’s dishes away and walked over to her sister’s door, ready to apologize when she heard lydia on the phone accepting meredith’s offer.

the blonde walked back to where her girlfriend stood, who welcomed her with open arms.

⋆◦★◦⋆

the next day lydia was sitting in a room with lexie, jackson, dr. webber and derek, the latter staring out a window.

“this patient understands what cutting the cord means?” dr. webber asked. “the loss of function in both legs and possibly more?”

“we have to cut the cord to kill the tumor. there’s no other way.” derek said to him.

webber sighed, “okay. that’ll only take an hour or two. you can have o.r. one. hunt needs it right after so he’ll have enough time.”

“thank you.” derek thanked quickly.

“good luck.” webber said, standing up and leaving the room.

as soon as the door closed derek turned around in his chair. lydia realized that they weren’t about to do anything derek just agreed to.

“we’re not cutting the cord.” derek said to his team.

“we’re not?” jackson asked, clearly confused.

“eh, i had a feeling.” lydia said.

“mnh-mnh. the mistake i made yesterday was that i wanted a plan. there can be no plan. i just have to pick a point and cut.” derek told them.

“but what you said yesterday, if-if you cut an artery or hit the cord...” lexie started worriedly.

derek sighed, “what isaac wants is to take the risk. he wants a cure, and it’s our job to try. see you in the o.r.” 

lydia and lexie looked at each other, worry etched all over their faces. 

“this is bad. this is really, really bad.” lexie said, holding her head in her hands.

“are you kidding? no one at mercy west was this badass.” jackson told the female two doctors.

“this isn’t badass. this-this is...” lexie started but lydia cut her off.

“you’ve gotta admit, it is a little badass.”

“okay, you saw him yesterday, he was spinning himself in circles, mumbling like some crazy psych patient. and he was mean.” lexie finished.

“well, he’s your psych patient now. deal with it diaper genie.” jackson said.

lydia let out a light chuckle and lexie turned to glare at her. lydia put her hands up in surrender and leaned back in her chair.

“hey, i wore a diaper yesterday, yes. and i will wear one today. if it helps get dr. shepherd through the surgery, i will wear a diaper, because my diaper is awesome. my diaper is hard-core. you wish you had the balls to wear my diaper. i’m gonna wear it, and i’m gonna wear it with pride. and if i have to pee in it, oh, i’ll pee, because i am a surgeon. this is america, and i will do what needs to be done. so you can kiss my hard-core, diaper-wearin’ ass.” lexie ranted, pitting her hands on the table and standing up to leave the room.

lydia stared at her in awe and clapped when she finished her speech. before lexie walked out of the room she gave her friend a look that obviously meant she wanted her to wear a diaper too. lydia caught on and shook her head.

“as awesome as your speech was, lex, i’m not wearing a diaper. i told you, i’m there for you with moral support.” 

lexie shook her head and left the room.


	5. five

lexie, lydia, and cristina walked down the hallway proudly. lexie and cristina looked at each other and smiled. lydia let out a light laugh since she knew both of her friends were wearing diapers. lexie and lydia kept walking and owen pulled cristina away.

the surgery started and lydia was excited to be apart of something so memorable.

“okay. i’ve gotten the plane. ready to make the first cut.” derek said.

lydia heard some footsteps and turned around to see mark walking into the o.r.

“i heard you needed some support.” he said.

“you need people to talk to-experienced surgeons. and you can’t say no to me because i’m in charge, and this is what i’m prescribing.” lexie told the neurosurgeon.

“thank you, dr. grey. okay, let’s start.” derek said. “making the first cut.”

the monitor started beeping and everyone looked over to see why.

“what, did you-you paralyze him?” jackson asked.

“no. one vessel down.” derek told him. “settle in. we have many more to go.” 

lydia looked over at lexie, then at mark and she sighed knowing how long the surgery was going to take.

⋆◦★◦⋆

“i’ve cleared a path at t-5. and if i continue along this plane, i-.” derek started, but the monitor started beeping erratically.

“m.e.p. tracing’s losing amplitude. what just happened?” mark asked, studying the monitor.

“a vessel burst. it might have been connected to the cord.” derek told him.

“but if there’s not enough blood reaching the cord-“ lexie started.

“i could’ve just paralyzed our patient, yes. suction please.” derek finished for her.

“easy. careful. more suction.”

“there’s too much blood.” lydia said, looking at the patient.

“we’re losing him.” mark said

“i should’ve just cut the cord. this is too risky.” derek said, doubting his work.

“wait. it’s back. amplitude’s up.” mark said.

“so the cord didn’t stroke out? you didn’t paralyze him?” lexie asked.

“the vessel was connected to, the, uh, tumor. we’re ok.” derek said and lexie sighed in relief.

“nice work, derek.” mark congratulated.

“thanks.”

lydia noticed something wrong with derek, “dr. shepherd?”

“take off my mask.” he said.

“what?” the woman repeated.

“take off my mask. take off my mask!” he commanded.

lexie hurried over to the other side of the table where derek stood and took off derek’s mask. suddenly derek threw up in the o.r. and lydia was worried sick about him. lexie’s eyes were wide open in shock, as were everyone’s in the o.r.

⋆◦★◦⋆

the surgery stopped for a small while as dr. shepherd took a break, as ordered to by lexie and lydia. derek took a breather and sat on a small stool and calmed down.

“get in there. take a breath and get back in there.” mark told his friend.

“you can do it, derek.” lydia said encouragingly.

“you really should drink something.” lexie said to him.

“i’m fine.” he said.

“you’re not fine. you’re dehydrated and you’re stressed. you really should drink something.” lexie told the man insistently. 

lydia agreed with her but didn’t say anything. she was however getting annoyed by him not taking care of himself.

“i said i’m fine.” derek said again.

“drink the water.” lexie sternly told him. 

derek still didn’t drink the water and lydia was getting fed up with his behavior. 

“she said drink it!” lydia yelled at him.

derek looked at lydia and finally drank the water. he knew better than to mess with a new mother who was running on barely any sleep. lexie looked at her friend and gave a thankful nod. mark looked at the woman he had a ‘thing’ with and gave her a proud nod. lydia could tell he was smiling at her behind his mask and that made her smile behind her own.

⋆◦★◦⋆

bailey walked into the o.r. a little while later.

“dr. bailey, care to fill us in?” derek asked

“no, i would not. because anything outside of this o.r. is not your concern. your only concern is this patient. now keep going.” she told him.

lydia looked at the o.r. timer. eight hours. the surgery has been going for eight hours, ten minutes, and one second.

seconds turned to minutes and minutes turned to hours and soon enough, the surgery had been going on for over thirteen hours. honestly she was only a little tired.

“damn it.” derek said.

“what is it.” callie asked.

“i can’t tell which one of these vessels feeds the cord and which one feeds the tumor.” derek told the ortho surgeon. “i have to do a blind cut.”

“like a trip wire?” callie asked

“if i cut the wrong one, the entire cord strokes out.” derek took a deep breath. “okay, we’ll come back to this later.”

“later? so you could finish the entire surgery only to cut the wrong one? this will all have been for nothing?” callie asked confused.

“exactly. but thanks for pointing that out.”

⋆◦★◦⋆

the next time lydia looked at the time it said twenty-one hours and forty-six seconds. the woman wanted to finish up this surgery and go home to her baby. meredith was watching emily since lydia knew she wasn’t going to be home for a long time.

“how many inches left?” arizona asked.

“uh, less than two. so if i do my math, we got, uh, four or five more hours ahead.” derek said. 

lydia internally groaned. when she got home. she was going to go to bed then hug her baby to no end.

“crap. oh, crap. oh, crap. oh, crap.” jackson started.

“what is it?” lydia asked worriedly.

“it’s my hand. it’s cramping. damn it.” he told the woman.

“don’t move. don’t move.” derek told him.

“ah.”

“b.p.’s dropping.” arizona said as the monitor started beeping erratically.

“okay, we’re touching the cord. if we disturb it any more, we run-“ derek started.

“pulse is down to fifty-two.” arizona said.

“it’s getting worse, guys. it’s-“ jackson told everyone.

“easy, easy. don’t move.” derek told the boy.

“okay, it’s ok. just stay still.” lexie said, putting her hand on jackson’s hand. “hey, close your eyes and breathe. okay, it’s just a spasm.”

“b.p.’s back up 100/68.” arizona said.

“have you had anything to drink today, dr. avery?” derek asked, a bit concerned.

“what?” 

“muscle cramps are a sign of dehydration.” lydia pointed out.

“you went without fluids so dr. grey could t get her hands on the retractor. isn’t that right?” derek figured out.

“sorry.” jackson said.

“don’t apologize. just step aside. dr. grey take over.”

⋆◦★◦⋆

twenty-six hours and forty- eight seconds, that’s how long the surgery has been going on for. for a new mother, separation can be difficult, especially with a job like lydia’s. this is the longest she’s ever been away from her child but she has the surgery to distract her from it. but sometimes it doesn’t work.

“hmm. ‘a’ or ‘b’?” derek asked. “dr. grey... ‘a’ or ‘b’?”

“you’re done? you got it all out?” lexie asked.

“except for the blind cut. i just have to pick one, and we’re good to go. ‘a’ or’b’?” derek said

“you’re kidding.” 

“you’re stalling. dr. avery?” derek said.

“i don’t like to gamble.” jackson said.

“dr. robbins?” derek asked lydia.

“um, dr. sloan what do you think?” lydia asked, avoiding the question.

“what, so derek can blame it on me for the rest of his life? this is all you derek.” mark told his friend.

“right. my call. great.” derek said. “eeny, meeny, miny, moe. catch a tiger by its toe. if he hollers-“ 

“are you playing eeny, meeny, miny, moe?” lydia asked derek.

“yeah.” they both sarcastically laughed.

derek took a deep breath and made the cut.

⋆◦★◦⋆

it was the right cut. lydia went home after a very very long day, she had arizona drive her home. arizona and callie had to help put her sister in the car, lydia could barely do it herself she was so tired.

they were almost home when lydia thought about her baby. “wait, wait, we have to pick up emily. i need to see my baby.”

“lyds, it’s late, she’s with alex, sleeping. we will go pick her up tomorrow ok? tonight, you are getting a good night sleep and we are letting alex deal with his child for the night.” arizona said, trying to calm her sister down.

well, it worked. they got home to their shared apartment and arizona helped her sister into bed and all three women were out like a light.


	6. six

it was the middle of the night and both lydia and emily were sleeping when lydia’s pager went off resulting in both emily and lydia waking up. emily started crying and lydia got up to look at her pager. the woman got up and took care of her baby before taking care of herself. 

lydia met arizona and callie in the living room and they all walked out to the car together. lydia put emily in her car seat and arizona drove them to the hospital. once they got there, lydia got out first and immediately took emily to day care and met arizona and callie downstairs with owen.

“robbins squared, karev’s with your patient in trauma two.” owen said and with that arizona and lydia made their way there.

lydia went on the other side of alex and started the ultrasound.

“car accident. head c.t. showed a subdural. shepherd’s coming in. baby’s in distress. o.b.’s on its way.” alex said to them.

“oh, it hurts. it really hurts.” the patient moaned.

“ok, wait. hold on. stop. move the wand up.” arizona said and moved lydia’s hand up.

“what?” lydia asked.

“okay, baby’s brain is hemorrhaging. she needs a crash ‘c’ while shepherd handles the bleed. get ready to grab a rail and start running.” arizona told the residents.

alex, arizona, and lydia, started pushing the patient to the o.r. when they almost ran into callie and her patient.

“...meet me in the o.r.” lydia heard callie say.

“oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. we need the o.r.” arizona told callie, pulling the bed right up next to callie’s.

“well, we need it, too. we’re already on our way.” callie said.

“there’s only one o.r. prepped this time of night.” lydia explained.

“which is why we need it.” callie said, still pushing her bed.

“mines got a subdural.” arizona bargained.

“fifty broken bones.” callie countered

lydia internally cringed.

“stroke in the womb!” lydia shouted.

“oh!” callie gasped because a door suddenly opened and a nurse popped out.

arizona pushes faster and overtook callie and owen and made it to the o.r. the patient screamed and moaned.

⋆◦★◦⋆

the surgery started and derek shepherd opened the door and came into the o.r.

“what’s her status?” he asked.

“mom’s heart rate and, uh, b.p. has been fluctuating, but she’s ready for you.” lydia told derek while she was working on the baby.

“all right, let’s prep her for a craniotomy.” derek said.

“apgar’s only 4. we need to get to the nicu now.” arizona said. 

⋆◦★◦⋆

the three surgeons made it to the nicu in time. alex was checking out the baby and arizona had just put a drain in.

“all right, drain’s in a good position.” arizona said.

“yeah, she’s breathing over the vent.” said alex.

“maybe we should consider extubating her?” 

“yeah, but watch for apneic episodes, and keep an eye out for her c.b.c. there’s still too much blood draining from her head.” arizona said. “what time is it, karev?”

“uh, half past 8:00.” he answered looking at his watch.

“half past 8:00. i’ve already been awake for 5 hours, and my day hasn’t even started.” arizona said, sighing.

“same, rough way to start your morning.” lydia said.

“a stroke before you’re even born-rough way to start a life.” alex said.

“yeah.”

⋆◦★◦⋆

“hey i brought you some coffee.” callie said rounding the corner to meet arizona and lydia. she noticed both the robbins sisters already had a coffee in their hands. “oh, you already have one.”

“oh, no. i want your coffee. i need your coffee.” arizona said reaching out for callie’s extra coffee.

owen walked up to the girls and started talking about cristina. “okay, when you see cristina, she is gonna be mad. she’s gonna be mad at me for not paging her in here last night, possibly mad at you for not waking her up either. now i am handling this. do not engage her. do not provoke her. simply ignore, her all right?”

“oh, that’s your plan-ignore the scalpel-hungry animal?” callie asked him.

“yep, until i come up with something better.” he said.

the residents all filed onto the peds floor as they waited for arizona to start talking. lydia and her sister both threw out their finished coffee’s and lydia went to stand next to cristina.

“okay, i know this is the first time on a peds rotation with me for for some of you. not for others. but i wanted you to understand that i run my peds unit a little differently than you may be used to. this is not general surgery in miniature. these are the tiny humans. these are children. they believe in magic. they play pretend. there is fairy dust in their i.v. bags. they hope and they cross their fingers and they make wishes and that makes them more resilient than adults. they recover faster, survive worse. they believe. in peds we have miracles and magic. in peds, anything is possible.” arizona gave her big peds speech and lydia gave a wide smile. 

lydia always loved hearing her sister talk about the tiny humans, she was so passionate about them. lydia was very passionate about them as well, that’s why she wanted to go into peds. 

they all walk through the door and waited for arizona to give them their instructions.

“morning, dr. robbins.” a young boy greeted his doctor.

“good morning, dr. wallace.” arizona said back. “i see that you’ve already introduced yourself to mr. and mrs boyd.”

“yes. reminds me of hillary at that age. such an overachiever.” mrs. boyd told arizona.

“dr. yang, why don’t you present?” callie offered.

“excuse me, little...doctor boy. uh, hillary boyd, 15 years old, fell off the roof of her house. fifty-two acute fractures were diagnosed when she was admitted last night. an intricate and extremely challenging o.r.i.f. surgery was performed by dr. torres and dr. hunt this morning before rounds.” cristina presented.

“thank you, dr. yang.” 

“if she fares well enough today, i’d like to go in tomorrow to repair her subtrochanteric fracture next.” callie said.

“mm. can anyone tell me the proper dosage of ceftriaxone for a pediatric patient?” arizona asked.

“fifty milligrams per kilogram per day.” jackson answered.

“mm-hmm. and dr. wallace, can you tell me The proper dose for this patient if she were forty-two kilograms?” arizona asked the young boy.

the young boy did a little bit of math on his clip board and answered, “2.1 grams per day...if you carry the decimal.”

they finished in hillary’s room and wallace led the group to his own hospital room. the young boy climbed into his bed and lydia stood next to his bed.

“okay, who’s presenting?” arizona asked the group.

“i am, dr. robbins.” wallace said, sitting up in his bed.

“proceed.”

“wallace anderson, ten years old-almost eleven-been here for seven months. in and out over the past two years. suffers from short gut syndrome, which means he can’t properly absorb nutrition.” the young boy presented.

“exactly, dr. robbins?” 

“fifteen intestinal surgeries to date, plus a bowel lengthening procedure, which helped for a while, but recently, he’s hat to go back to being fed through t.p.n.” lydia continued.

“yum.” wallace said, holding his bag.

“how’d he do this morning?” mrs. anderson asked, walking into her son’s room.

“we covered some pretty advanced algebraic conversions.” arizona told his mother.

“dr. robbins helps me with my math and science homework by letting me go on rounds.” wallace explains to the newbies.

lydia smiled. she knew wallace and she’s been on his case for a while now. 

“fascinating.” cristina said under her breath.

“we try to keep his life as normal as we can, even living in a hospital.” his father told the residents.

“but I can skip my home on Friday, right, since it’s my birthday?” wallace asked hopefully.

“since it’s your birthday.” his mother agreed.

“what about dr. robbins? it’s her birthday, too.” wallace asked.

lydia obviously knew about her sisters birthday but she also knew that arizona don’t like to make a big fuss about it. lydia loved to spend time with her on her birthday but she was on call.

“i’m afraid I can’t skip my homework, wallace, but i can come celebrate with you like i promised.” arizona promised the young boy.

everyone turned around, ready to leave the room when wallace’s dad spoke up. 

“dr. robbins?” lydia and arizona turned around. arizona lattes her sister on her shoulder, letting her know that she should leave with the rest of the residents.

⋆◦★◦⋆

later that morning, callie, arizona, and lydia went back to their apartment to relax for a little while. for once, everyone was home and even mark had come over. callie was making breakfast, arizona was talking and holding baby emily, mark was reading the newspaper, and lydia was pouring coffee. 

“i always knew that wallace’s parents were wealthy, but not twenty-five million dollars wealthy. i mean, that’s ‘libraries named after you’ kind of money, ‘saved babies in africa and has dinner at the white house regularly’ type money.” arizona explained, feeding her niece.

lydia finished pouring coffee and orange juice for everyone and went to sit down next to mark with her coffee in hand.

“people don’t give me that kind of money. you have an unfair advantage. you work with children.” mark said.

“oatmeal, side of fruit, wheat toast, hold the butter.” callie said, putting a plate of food on the bar.

“thank you.” owen said, walking into the room.

“you know what? that money is going to make such a difference for so many patients. It’s really amazing.” lydia said, smiling at her big sister.

“maybe i should start doing more cleft-palate kids. everyone’s a sucker for those.” mark said. 

“cheese omelet, extra butter, cinnamon toast, crispy bacon.” callie said, putting a second plate of food on the bar.

“mine!” cristina called, walking into the room.

“twenty-five million is pretty cool, right?” arizona asked, bouncing emily in her arms.

lydia stood up from her place next to mark and walked towards the kitchen. she grabbed a bowl of chopped fruit from the fridge and took a fork from the drawer. the girl made her way back to mark and sat down, quite closely, next to the man.

“yeah.”

“best birthday gift ever.” lydia spoke up.

“birthday gift?” callie questioned.

“yeah, well, ‘cause the money’s a gift. i mean technically it’s for the hospital, not arizona, but since your birthday’s on friday...” lydia trailed off.

“um, why didn’t you tell me about your birthday?” callie asked arizona.

“birthdays are just days like any other days. i don’t like them. don’t celebrate them. no big deal. twenty-five million? that’s a big deal.” arizona explained quickly. “crap. i’m gonna be late. i will see you there.” she kissed her girlfriend goodbye, set emily in marks arms, and headed out the door.

“okay, she’s downplaying it, right? i’m her girlfriend. i have to do something for her birthday, right?”

“yes.” owen said at the same time both cristina and lydia said “no.”

“of course you do. a surprise party.” owen suggested.

“whoa, whoa. bad idea.” mark chipped in.

“i agree, like arizona said, she doesn’t do big parties. normally we stay in, watch movies, and eat candy all night.” lydia told her sister’s girlfriend.

“surprise parties are hostile. they’re dark. people jump out and scream at you. they never come to any good.” mark told callie.

lydia knew callie was gonna do it anyway. at this point she was glad she was on call so she wouldn’t be blamed for this.


	7. seven

later that day, lydia was in the nicu with her sister, checking up on the baby they delivered yesterday.

“what’s yours in for?” bailey asked from the opposite side of the room.

“delivered her yesterday.” lydia told the woman.

“stroked out ten weeks premature.” arizona explained to bailey.

“yours?” lydia asked.

“born with its insides on the outsides. two days post-op. resilient little guy.” bailey said.

alex walked up to the two sisters as lydia started talking to him. “more bleeding overnight.”

“should we try f.f.p.?” alex asked.

“at this point, we should try anything. get me a repeat m.r.i and page me if she becomes bradycardic or starts having apnea spells. i’ll be on rounds.” arizona said, walking away. she turned around. “oh lydia, come with me.”

they made their way to wallace’s room in no time to see the little boy in his bed with his eyes closed.

“is he still sleeping?” arizona asked quietly.

“no.” the boy answered.

“he had a bad night.” his mom told the doctors, getting up from her spot in a chair next to her son’s bed.

“i can still go on rounds. i feel better. just give me a second.” he said weakly, trying to get up.

his mother looked up at the doctors in front of her and shook her head no, signaling she didn’t want her son going on rounds.

“you know what? how about if you just take a rest for now and then you can join me for evening rounds instead?” lydia told wallace.

“okay.” he sighed sadly.

lydia felt bad for wallace but knew that he needed rest in order to feel better.

“he listens to you two more than he does to me.” mrs. anderson said.

“well, yeah. they’re doctors, mom. and you’re just... well, a mom.” wallace told his mother.

“hey, wallace, i’m a doctor, and a mom.” lydia told the boy, putting a hand on his arm.

he smiled up at her.

“well, how about you close your eyes and you let me do what moms do, okay?” mrs. anderson told her son. “bad dreams, bad dreams, go away. good dreams, good dreams, here to stay. bad dreams, bad dreams, go away. good dreams, good dreams, here to stay.” 

charles walked into the room and stood next to arizona and lydia, causing mrs. anderson to pause her speech.

“you have to do it there times for it to work.” wallace said with his eyes closed.

“oops. one more.”

arizona pulled charles and lydia to the side to talk about wallace.

“i want you to repeat his chemistries and get an abdominal series. he’s had bad nights before, but i want to make sure that we’re not missing anything.” arizona told charles. 

suddenly lydia’s and arizona’s pagers went off and the two sisters saw that it was for the baby they delivered yesterday. they rushed to the nicu as fast as they could. lydia quickly put on a gown and checked the baby.

“she’s bradying down and she lost access.” lydia told alex as the man rushed up to the two.

“i’ll start.” alex said.

“dr. robbins.” charles said, rushing up to arizona.

“not right now.” she told him.

“i think you’re gonna want to see this.” charles said urgently. “it’s the x-rays on wallace anderson.”

“all right, show me.” arizona said.

lydia and alex were still assessing the baby while arizona and charles were looking at the x-rays.

“see? he has dilated loops of bowel.”

“all right, flip.” arizona told him. he did what she asked and she stared it down. she told him to flip it again. “damn it. damn it. he has another bowel obstruction, and he’s not compensating. okay-.”

“i’ve got this. go.” arizona said. “lydia, stay with alex and find me later.”

lydia nodded as arizona left to go see wallace’s parents. alex picked up the baby. lydia always loved seeing him with kids, especially babies. he definitely had a soft spot for them, it made her smile. 

“cap refill is five seconds.” alex said.

“push one of epi.” lydia told the nurse that was helping them.

“it’s not working. heart rate’s down to the sixties. starting compressions.” alex told her.

“could i help?” reed asked, coming over to where lydia and alex were working.

“doubt it. at this rate, this kid’s not gonna last more than an hour.” alex told the ex mercy wester.

“she’s only thirty weeks. pretty young to survive.” lydia spoke up, looking down at the young baby. 

“so what, you’re just gonna stand there and watch her die?” reed asked the two doctors.

“mm, pretty much.” alex told her.

“i want to do everything i can to make sure she lives.” lydia said, comforting the girl.

“that sucks.”

“it is what it is. it’s protocol.” alex said.

“it’s a stupid protocol, that’s what it is and you know that.” lydia told alex.

alex unstrapped a tube from the little baby and the monitor started beeping loudly.

“beeping drives me nuts.” alex said, turning off the beeping.

“look, i mean-” reed started but alex cut her off.

“the kid’s gonna die. deal with it or get out.” alex told the girl. 

with that, reed left the nicu sadly. lydia knew she wanted more for that child and the brunette felt the same way. alex picked up the little girl and held her in his arms.

“hey there, girl. i got you. yeah. it’s ok.you’re not alone. no, you’re not. you’re not alone.” he whispered to her and lydia looked at him with a smile on her face.

⋆◦★◦⋆

a little while later, alex and lydia were still in the nicu. alex was holding the little girl and lydia was holding a baby boy named miles that she had helped deliver a few days prior. miles’ health wasn’t looking too good and it broke lydia’s heart. he was suffering from similar symptoms as the baby from yesterday. the woman heard footsteps and looked up from the baby to see miranda bailey walk into the nicu.

“oh, is that the preemie?” she asked alex.

“oh, yeah. i was just, uh…i tried everything.” alex said to bailey.

“and who is this?” bailey asked, walking over to lydia.

“this is miles. i helped deliver him a few nights ago and he isn’t doing very well. the odds aren’t very high so i thought i would give him some comfort before his time comes.” lydia told bailey, rocking the newborn in her arms side to side.

“we just thought maybe somebody should hold them before, you know, they…” alex trailed off.

“kangaroo.” bailey said.

“what? alex asked, confused.

“the way you two are holding your babies, it’s called a kangaroo hold. uh, there’s been cases where the kangaroo has helped babies thrive. but look, karev, robbins, look at the numbers. look at this.” bailey told them.

“heart rates going up.” lydia pointed out.

“yeah, it is, and her temperature is normal. karev, robbins, you may have just kick-started these babies' entire system.” bailey said.

“just by holding them?” lydia asked.

“both of you, take off your shirts.” bailey commanded.

“what? no. take off your shirt.” alex told bailey.

“yeah, um, i don’t need alex to see me in a bra at work.” lydia said awkwardly.

“tess, i’ve seen you give birth to our daughter, i’ve seen you breastfeed our daughter, i think you can take your shirt off to help another kid.” alex told the mother of his child.

“whatever, doesn’t mean i’m fully comfortable with it.” lydia said to him.

“no, no, just-the kangaroo hold, it’s most effective when there’s skin-on-skin contact. it’s usually the mom, but, you know, you’re gonna have to do.” bailey told her residents.

“i get it, i hold emily like this all the time at home and she really seems to enjoy it.” lydia told them.

“i’m not kidding. take off your shirts.” bailey commanded them.

the two residents looked at each other and sighed. they put the babies down and took off their scrub tops. they both looked at each other and alex looked her up and down before looking away and picking up the baby. lydia picked up miles and held him to her chest.

“see? it’s skin-to-skin contact. the baby can feel your warmth better.sense your heartbeat better. see that?” bailey asked when the monitors showed better stats for both babies. “the baby’s own heart is picking up in response.”

“karev, robbins, what are you doing?” shepard asked, walking into the room.

“they’re saving a baby’s life, that’s what.” bailey said, making alex and lydia smile.

reed walked into the nicu, clearly shocked by what she saw. “dr. bailey, i...oh, no shirts. they’re wearing no shirts.”

“have you started to lactate yet?” derek asked, making lydia scoff.

“bailey made us.” alex told them.

“is this the room for the calendar shoot? i was told it was down stairs.” mark said, rushing into the room. “hot damn lydia, are you trying to kill me?” mark’s smile showed he was joking, but his eyes told a different story.

“yeah, all right. that’s enough.” bailey started and reed, derek, and mark started laughing. “everybody out. let karev and robbins do what they’re doing in private.”

“what are they doing exactly?” mark asked.

“out. out.” bailey said, gesturing for them all to leave.

once they all left, lydia looked down at the small baby in her arms and cooed at the tiny human.

⋆◦★◦⋆

the woman called callie and asked if she could watch emily since lydia wasn’t coming home. obviously callie said yes and lydia was able to calm down, knowing everything eas under control. well, except with wallace. arizona came by and told her about the surgery and lydia was worried for the boy.

lydia found a chair late last night to sit in while she held baby miles. sometime early that morning, both her and alex fell asleep with their babies against their chests. 

“karev? robbins?”

lydia heard a voice and opened her eyes to see dr. bailey looking down on the pair of young parents.

“did you stay here all night?” she asked.

“uh, yeah. i… i guess we did.” alex told her.

“go home, get some rest. the nurse will take over for you.” bailey told them.

“no. i’m ok.” lydia told her. “callie brought in emily and she's in the daycare so we will visit er later. everything we need is right here.”

“i’m good here.” alex said.

“well, you’d both be good in peds, you know that? you get invested. you have good instincts. you stick to your instincts. you’d be good in peds karev. i’d like to see you follow in your sister's footsteps, robbins. ’ bailey told them.

“that’s been my plan all along.” lydia said with a smile.

bailey smiled at them and walked away. she thought about how they would be a good couple and how they should raise their daughter together. however, she knew alex still loved izzie and lydia had a thing for mark. but she always had a sliver of hope that they would get together one day.

⋆◦★◦⋆

arizona came by earlier so that lydia could wish her happy birthday. however, arizona told lydia that wallace had died earlier and lydia felt a wave of sadness wash over her. she held miles tight and let the baby comfort her.

“i have to admit, i’m impressed. i never would’ve pegged you for the babysitting type.” reed said to alex, walking into the nicu. “are you heading home?”

“no, i got the baby. and for the record, i’m a dad.” he told the redhead.

“oh, well, i’m sure somebody else could take a shift. do you want me to-.” she started when alex cut her off.

lydia thought she was kind of annoying and obviously couldn’t take a hint.

“i can’t leave ok.” he snapped at her.

“wow. are you really so messed up that you can’t let one person be nice to you, ever?”

“you, really don’t take no for an answer do you, adamson?” lydia said.

“i can’t go. i can’t go home. i can’t get izzie to call me back. she’s gone. could be dead for all i know. she left me with a two-hundred thousand dollar medical bill, and i-i i can’t do anything about it...about any of it.” alex said. 

lydia felt really bad for him but she knew there was nothing she could do.

“but i can sit here and i can hold this baby. that i can do.” alex told reed.

“then i’ll sit here with you for a little while.” reed said, pulling a chair closer to alex.

for some reason, lydia didn’t want reed there with her and alex in the nicu. she wanted to be left alone with alex in quiet with just the babies. 

“no leave. i have lydia here with me and i really don’t need you ruining whatever relationship i have with her. our friendship is strong but we are just trying to figure out this parenting thing. so, if you could leave, we are figuring out how to become better parents.” alex whispered to reed. he thought he was being quiet, but lydia heard everything and hid her smile away from him. 

reed scoffed and walked away, kicking the chair in the process.

⋆◦★◦⋆

alex and lydia put each of their babies into their nicu beds for just a moment. lydia put her shirt back on, as did karev. alex put on a pink gown and grabbed one for lydia. she took the gown from alex and put it on. miles’ mother was coming to meet her son in a few days and unfortunately lydia couldn’t be there when that happened, luckily, the baby girl was meeting her mother that day.

alex had the tiny human, who was wrapped in a small pink blanket, in his arms. the mother had just been rolled into the nicu and alex walked over to her. 

“time to meet your mommy.” alex said, and lydia’s heart leaped with joy as the new mom met her daughter.

“she’s so beautiful.” the mother said, holding her daughter.

alex and lydia looked at each other happily. arizona walked into the nicu to take lydia home. they walked to the daycare to pick up emily and lydia was so grateful to see her own child. they walked to the car and lydia strapped emily into her car seat. the ride home was filled with lydia and arizona sarong memories from their childhoods for arizona’s birthday, like they always do.

“when are you moving out?” arizona asked, glancing at lydia.

“after new years, it just seems like a good time.” she replied.

“are you sure? come on, just stay here with me and callie. we love you.” arizona said to her sister.

“zona, mark and i are getting serious. that means moving in together.” lydia said.

“ugh, fine. just come over all the time and i’ll keep a playpen at the apartment.”

“i will don’t worry. i’ll be right next door.” lydia reassured her.

“good.” she laughed.

they made it to their apartment and unlocked the door, only to find callie laying down on the couch, seeming to be asleep. they tried walking to their rooms quietly without waking callie up, but failed.

“oh! i’m awake.” callie said, sitting up on the couch. “i’m aw-um see? i’m totally awake. there’s hats and gifts and doughnuts and lingerie.” she put on a red, sparkly hat and blew a noise maker but it didn't work.

“i love you.” arizona said to her girlfriend.

“you do?” callie asked her.

“i do.” arizona assured her.

lydia stood in the background with emily in her arms, looking at the couple with soft eyes, wondering if anyone would ever tell her they love her.


	8. eight

the next day, lydia made her way down the hall with callie and mark, stopping in front of dr. bailey. 

"hey, is your trauma patient stable for skin grafting?"

"the one with the pancreatic duct rupture," callie continued off of mark. 

"hey can i scrub in?" lydia asked mark, the latter looking at the girl and nodding his head.

"miranda." everyone turned their heads at the voice, watching adele, the chief’s wife, walk over to them. 

"oh, adele," bailey greeted her. "oh, i'm so sorry. i sent the chief into surgery. do you want me to-." 

"what i want is for you to tell me the truth," mrs. webber stopped for a second, then continued. "are you having an affair with my husband?" 

callie looked at her friends confused, lydia’s eyes widened, and marks head turned to the side.

"i am not having an affair with your husband." bailey told the woman.

"i saw the way you handled him just now." 

"i did not handle him," bailey laughed, nervously. "there was no handle—we work together." 

lydia thought that didn’t matter, lots of people in that hospital get together.

"you spend every waking moment together. you finish each other's sentences. you read each other's minds. you're more married to that man than i am." adele told the woman.

"yeah, but that's just because they're husband and work-wife," lydia told adele, walking toward the two women. 

"excuse me?" 

"the chief's your work-husband, and you're his work-wife. you look out for each other. you take care of each other. there's nothing wrong with it. it's like me and sloan or lydia and alex." 

"excuse me?" mark asked callie.

"nobody's talking to you," she told mark. "he's my work-husband, but he has a girlfriend, lydia over here, and i have a girlfriend, but there's nothing going on between us." 

"i mean, there was at one point..." mark started. 

"you're not helping." lydia told him, putting a hand on his arm.

"neither one of you are helping," bailey snapped. "adele, i promise you, there is nothing going on." 

"something is going on, because he hasn't been in his bed all week." adele said.

"what?"

"really?" sloan said, making his girlfriend slap his arm.

"the last time he acted like this-disappearing, sleeping at the hospital every night-he was with ellis grey. he may not be having an affair with you-.” adele started.

“he's not.” bailey cut her off. “i promise you. i promise you, he's not," 

"okay. but wife-wife to work-wife, someone in this hospital is sleeping with our husband."

⋆◦★◦⋆

callie, mark, and lydia got their lunches and walked over to arizona, who was sitting down alone at a cafeteria table looking at a newspaper.

“you don’t think it’s bailey?” mark asked them.

“no. definitely not.” lydia told him, walking around to sit next to her sister.

“really? i kinda liked them together.” mark said.

“it’s not yang, is it?” callie asked.

“what are you guys talking about?” arizona asked them, looking up from the crossword puzzle.

“oh, you haven’t heard. the chief’s having an-.” mark started, but lydia quickly cut him off.

“mark, you are a terrible gossip.”

“i’m an excellent gossip.” he fought back.

owen and a woman lydia didn’t recognize walked up to them with lunches in their hands. 

“hey, mind if we join you?” owen asked.

“not at all, have a seat.” callie told them.

owen went around and sat next to lydia. the blonde woman put her lunch down and sat next to mark.

“how’s your first day going? you ready to go back to baghdad yet?” mark asked the woman.

“i’m actually really impressed. the facility, the equipment, the caliber of the residents.” she told the group.

“have you met cristina yang yet?” lydia asked her. “sorry, i’m lydia robbins. i’m a resident.”

“teddy altman, cardio.” she introduced. “mm, cristina yang may in fact be the best resident i’ve ever seen.”

“don’t count out lydia here. you should see her work on the kids, she’s definitely a promising resident.” mark told teddy, clearly proud of his girlfriend.

“well i’ll keep an eye out then.” teddy said to him, smiling at lydia.

“you really think she’s the best though?” owen asked.

“yeah i do. i don’t think she likes me, but yeah.” she laughed.

“ooh. she doesn’t like you?” mark asked.

“mark.” callie said sternly.

“no, your probably right just because yang drove off the last cardio attending doesn’t mean-.”

lydia looked mark in the eye, daring him to continue speaking. thankfully he was cut off by owen.

“she did not.” 

“burke?” mark questioned.

“come on, that was...”

“hahn?” mark continued.

“she had nothing to do with hahn leaving.” lydia assured teddy.

“nope, that was me.” callie said.

“dixon?” mark asked again.

“cristina just needs a strong cardio attending, and she deserves a strong cardio attending.” owen told the group.

“cristina? wow. so...” teddy laughed. “so you and yang? what happened to you and beth?”

“oh, he didn’t tell you? beth showed up at the hospital one day. she didn’t even know he was-ow!” mark said. “did you just kick me?” he asked callie.

“that was me.” arizona whispered.

“mm.”

“so... wait. wait. when you called me up and you told me about this great job at this hospital, you-you were just bringing me out here as-as a present for your new girlfriend?” teddy asked owen.

“ooh, yikes.” lydia commented.

“it is a great job with great people, one of whom just happens to be... yeah, yeah, mm-hmm.” owen told teddy.

“that’s ok. i’m not mad.” teddy laughed and lydia patted owen on the back. “i’m just gonna enjoy all the ways you’re gonna have to make it up to me.”

they all laughed and continued eating their lunches.

⋆◦★◦⋆

lydia was with jackson and cristina, waiting for dr. robbins to get there since they lagged her. they had a patient who had trouble breathing.

“you guys paged me. what’s going on?” arizona asked, walking up to the group of doctors with teddy altman.

“this is casey, age 8, asthmatic nerves at home haven’t been working.” lydia told the two attendings.

“we added steroids, but he still having trouble breathing.” jackson told them.

“casey, i’m dr. robbins. i’m gonna take a look at your x-rays.” arizona said to the young boy as she walked around to the monitor. 

cristina gave dr. robbins his chart as teddy started examining the boy.

“hey, casey. i’m just gonna take a listen.” teddy said to the boy, the latter breathing raspily.

“dr. altman are you-.” cristina started.

“i’m trying to concentrate dr. yang.” teddy told the resident. “has casey had any other medical issues?”

“a febrile seizure ar three months.” cristina told her.

“okay, can you sit up for me?” teddy asked nicely. “and did he scream a lot when you brought him home from the hospital?”

“yes.” his mother told teddy.

“and has his asthma gotten better or worse as he’s gotten older?” dr. altman asked.

“worse.”

“okay. thanks.” teddy finished the exam and walked over to the other doctors in the room. “book an o.r.”

“what why?” cristina asked.

“because i said so.” 

“but he has asthma.” cristina said.

“cardiac asthma, dr. yang.” teddy told the woman.

“and you know that because?”

“because the seizure that he had? it wasn’t from a fever. he had a heart attack then and he’s having one now. so you’re going to book an o.r. because I am your attending, and when I tell you to book an o.r., book and o.r.” teddy explained to cristina.

“i like her.” arizona said after teddy walked away.

“me too.” lydia agreed.

⋆◦★◦⋆

the group of doctors were in the o.r., in the middle of casey’s surgery. teddy was working on the little boy’s heart.

“the birds on your scrub cap are cute.” arizona told teddy.

“thank you.” teddy said to the peds surgeon.

“is he on full bypass?” arizona asked.

“yes.”

“see the anatomy here.” arizona told the residents.

“the coronary artery is attached tot he pulmonary artery not the aorta.” cristina pointed out.

“it presented as asthma but it’s alcapa.” teddy said, looking down at the heart.

“how did you know? i mean you only listened to him and asked his mom a couple questions.” jackson asked the new cardio god.

“i saw some cardiomegaly on his x-rays and i heard holosystolic murmur through his wheezing. you’ll know for next time.” teddy told jackson. “and after today, dr. yang, you’ll know how to fix it.”

“me? i... i thought you and dr. robbins were...” cristina trailed off.

“dr. robbins, do you mind if dr. yang first assists?” teddy asked arizona.

“not at all.” arizona said, moving out of the way so that cristina could take her space.

“maybe we’ll both learn something today.” teddy told cristina, handing her the scalpel.

“okay. here we go. the moment of truth. let’s see dr. yang’s handiwork.” teddy said.

“that’s v-fib on the monitor.” lydia called out.

“thank you for that update.”

“all right, the bleeding’s behind the coronary artery anastomosis.” arizona told everyone.

“my anastomosis. what did i do?” cristina asked herself.

“right now it doesn’t matter what you did what matters is, what are you going to do to fix it?” teddy asked cristina.

“uh... feel free to jump in here at any time.”

“you can do this. tell me what you want to do.” teddy told cristina.

“i want to defibrillate.” cristina said.

“then defibrillate.”

“i’ll unclamp. ok charge to 20. clear.” cristina said, shocking the heart.

“nice.” lydia said.

“now...i want you to keep your eyes on the field and do exactly as i say. we’re gonna try and fix this without rearresting the heart. are you with me?”

“yes.” cristina said.

“good. all right. you need to apply a suture proximally and distally.” teddy told cristina. 

cristina did it correctly. “good. dr. avery, other dr. robbins, are you watching this?” teddy asked the two other doctors. “there will be a quiz afterward.”

“believe me, i’m watching.” jackson told the woman.

“definitely, it’s fascinating.” lydia said to teddy.

soon the surgery was over and lydia was able to go home to her little family. she felt happy.


	9. nine

thanksgiving eve

it was the day before thanksgiving and lydia was on her sister’s service with lexie. all she could think about was that it was her first thanksgiving with mark. she was excited but also nervous. callie and arizona were joining them too and for that, lydia was grateful.

lexie and lydia were examining a young boy with a nosebleed.

“when did the bleeding start?” lydia asked the boy's parents.

“this morning. he’s had these before. i just… i’ve never seen a nosebleed go on like this.” the boy’s mother told the doctors.

“there’s blood on timmy, mom.” said the little boy.

“mr. and mrs. jacobsen, can i see you?” derek asked.

“go ahead. we’ll be fine.” lexie said to the jacobsen’s.

“nicholas has what is called an arteriovenous malformation.” derek told the parents.

“it's a cluster of tangled blood vessels in his brain. it's what's causing the bleeding.” arizona said.

“in order to stop the bleeding, we need to remove it.” derek told them.

“y-y-you mean like brain surgery or…”

“i'll do everything i can to protect the brain tissue and minimize damage.” derek explained.

“i'm sorry. i know it's scary. but we have to go in right away.” arizona said.

lexie and lydia left the room and went down to the pit. the two girls a=saw mark talking to a blonde girl and decided to walk over to them.

“and, um, i'm pretty sure you’re my dad.” the unknown blonde said.

lydia’s eyes widened as she looked at the two, then around the room at everyone else’s reactions. to say she was shocked was an understatement. She looked at lexie and the younger brunette looked back at her with her jaw dropped.

lydia walked backwards until she turned around and walked over to callie.

“um, should i offer up a paternity test?” lydia whispered to her friend.

“i’ll go get the materials.” callie whispered back, walking off to get the tubes for the test.

lexie brought the blonde girl and mark into an empty conference room for them to talk.

soon enough callie came back with the materials and the two women walked into the conference room.

“hi, how’s it, uh, how’s it going in here?” lydia asked the two, awkwardly.

“great.” “fine.”

“okay. so have we broached the question of a paternity test? cause we brought supplies.” callie told them.

⋆◦★◦⋆

they agreed to a paternity test and lydia was paged to go to her surgery.

“she’s eighteen, not that much younger than me.” lydia told the surgeons in the room.

“well, it’s not that shocking actually. i mean, the way mark got around before he met you, there could be a gaggle of sloans. sloan jones. sloan smith. sloan sloan.” derek told his friend’s girlfriend.

“mean.” arizona said to him.

“ah, damn it. son of a bitch.” derek said. “i can’t access the feeders.”

“so… what does that mean?” lexie asked nervously.

“it means i can’t get at it. i can do a temporary fix, but once he starts bleeding again, which he will, there wont be anything we can do.” derek said, sadly. 

“so we’re just gonna…” lydia trailed off.

“send him home to die?” lexie continued off of lydia.

“happy thanksgiving, jacobsen family.” arizona said.

⋆◦★◦⋆

the surgery was over and the surgeons went back to nicholas’s room to tell his parents the bad news.

“i-i-i-i don't ... i don't understand. you ... you said that ... that he would die without the surgery. and now you're telling us we're supposed to just take him home?” mr. jacobsen said, confusedly.

“right. well, i've stopped the bleeding temporarily. but the only way to remove the a.v.m. safely is through the sinus.” derek told the parents.

“well, why don't you do that?” mrs. jacobsen asked derek.

“because there are no instruments that can maneuver through a nasal cavity this small and get the appropriate angles.” lydia explained.

“why not? who does that? who invents those things?” mrs. jacobsen asked them.

⋆◦★◦⋆

a little later, lydia joined meredith, alex, and cristina for lunch in one of the skills rooms. the girl walked over to the lunch table and sat down next to alex.

“this is the best thanksgiving ever.” cristina said to the group. “no obnoxious relatives. no stupid traditions. no going around the table and saying what you’re grateful for.”

“yeah, i think we should do the opposite. talk about what we’re not grateful for.” alex said.

“the merger.” cristina said.

“the mercy westers.” meredith told them.

“they’re like the plague. i mean, stealing all our surgeries, eating all that pie in the nurses’ station.” lydia pointed out, taking a bite of her salad.

“you’re doing that wrong.” meredith told alex, who was trying out a new suture.

“i am not.” he said.

“you are. can i show you?” she asked, taking the suture kit from him and showing him how to do it correctly.

“private lessons with the chief…” cristina scoffed. “man, those daddy issues are working for you.”

“i don’t have daddy issues. he’s teaching me.” meredith told her.

“you’re his bitch.” alex said to her.

lydia laughed. “well, in that case, you’re teddy’s bitch.” meredith told cristina.

“maybe that’s my problem. i’m nobody’s bitch.” alex said.

“same here.” lydia said, pointing to herself.

“oh no, no, you’re definitely robbins’ bitch.” alex told her.

“yeah, you get all of her cool peds surgery’s.” meredith said.

“well, at least i want to go into peds.” lydia said. “and anyways, you were izzie’s bitch.”

“you’re the bitch.” alex told lydia.

“you know what, it’s thanksgiving. can we just have no name-calling?” meredith asked.

“yeah. please.” lydia said.

“whatever. just show me that stitch again.” alex told meredith, who obliged.

⋆◦★◦⋆

later, lydia went home to her apartment to get started on dinner with callie and arizona. the woman was busy chopping up vegetables for dinner while arizona was holding her niece and kissed callie. suddenly there was a knock on the door and mark walked inside.

“hey.” all of the women said to mark.

he waved and sloan walked inside saying a quick, “hey.”

the girl greeted sloan by saying ‘hi’ or ‘hello’, and tess just had a shocked look on her face.

“welcome. happy thanksgiving. who wants wine?” callie asked.

“ooh, i do.” sloan said.

“no, you--you don’t.” mark said to her. “um… hey, everybody. uh, well, the results are in. it, uh, turns out sloan was right about her parentage.”

tesa started to chop faster, while also keeping her eyes locked on mark and sloan.

“i am her dad. um, so here’s another thing to be thankful for.” mark then talked directly to lydia. “lydia, sloan here is gonna move in with us or a little while”

lydia didn’t exactly live with mark, but she was over so much she basically lived there. suddenly, a chop was heard and it didn’t sound like vegetables. lydia looked down and saw that she had chopped off the tip of her pinky.

“oh, my god.” callie exclaimed, looking at her severed finger.

“Oh.” arizona said, taking emily away. No one wanted the baby to see her mother like that.

“ouch.” lydia said. she couldn’t believe anything that was happening in the moment.

⋆◦★◦⋆

christmas eve

lydia was over at mark’s apartment, decorating the christmas tree when mark walked over to talk to her. 

“how’s it feel?” mark asked his girlfriend. “still tingling?”

“oh, it’s fine, i pretty much have full sensation.” lydia told him as her boyfriend was examining her hand.

“great. good. so… have you uh. i mean, uh, you think you could ask her how long she’s planning to stay?” mark asked.

lydia looked over at sloan, who was sitting in the kitchen, painting her nails. “mark, it’s been a month, and you’ve exchanged three sentences with her. two of them were, ‘pass the cereal.’ in the spirit of the holliday, maybe you can ask her yourself. she’s pretty easy to like once you get to know her.” lydia told mark, putting her arm on his shoulder.

“really?” he asked hopefully.

“no, she’s a vapid, vapid, girl. but she’s your daughter, okay? so--so try.” lydia said to mark. “i’m trying to get to know her and i’m trying to like her, the least you could do is try. okay? try--try to be her dad.” lydia pushed mark toward his daughter, she hoped she made an impression on him.

mark took a deep breath and walked over to sloan and smiled. “uh…”

the girl turned around to face her dad and asked, “what are you looking at, you old perv?”

lydia looked at the girl in shock, her jaw dropped. mark just smiled awkwardly and walked away. lydia left the tree alone and went to comfort her boyfriend.

⋆◦★◦⋆

for christmas, meredith invited everyone over to her house to celebrate the holiday. so, lydia, mark, emily, and sloan made their way over to meredith’s house. later in the evening, lydia and arizona were singing with richard for a while before lydia left them to go try and talk to sloan. she wanted to be on good terms with her boyfriend’s daughter. so, lydia went over to mark and handed him emily, telling him to watch her.

“you’re not serious. you got him a snowglobe of seattle?” lydia asked sloan.

“what? he likes seattle?” sloan didn’t see anything wrong with what she did.

“i gave you fifty bucks. where’s my change?” lydia asked.

sloan sighed and put her hand on her hip. “okay, i spent the rest on a new pair of jeans.”

lydia put her hand on sloan’s shoulder. “it’s ok. all i wanted to know was if you had change. i was most likely going to let you keep the extra money anyways.” she told sloan gently.

“why are you being nice to me when i’ve been rude to you for a month?” sloan asked the woman.

lydia sighed and pointed towards mark, who was looking at them. “look at mark. do you see him? i love him and he loves you, even if he’s bad at showing it. and because i love him, i’m going to try to like you because you're important to mark, which makes you important to me.” lydia told sloan, her voice filled with care. 

“well, then i guess i’ll try and like you too. it’s just, i just met my dad and i find out his girlfriend isn’t much older than me and she has a baby, who mark acts like she’s his. ” sloan said to lydia, reaching out to her. 

“i get it. if it were me in your position, i would be a little weirded out too. are we ok?” 

“yep.” sloan said to lydia.

soon enough, everyone sat down at the table, eating dinner. lydia was sat next to mark and arizona. emily sat in her carseat, asleep at the head of the table next to bailey, the latter rocking the seat.

“the house looks beautiful, mer.” lexie said from her spot next to mark.

“thank you.”

“callie?” derek asked.

“working. arizona said.

“oh, that’s too bad.” derek said.

“here, do you want some stuffing?” 

“thanks.”

“oh, how--how’d kelsey do?” teddy asked cristina.

“uh, well.” cristina replied.

“who’s kelsey?” derek asked.

“a girl with no heart. i had to do a laparoscopic bowel repair whilst the poor thing was awake on the table.” bailey said from her spot at the end of the table.

“miranda, mind your manners. even if surgery is your whole life, it doesn't mean you have to talk about bowels at the dinner table.” bailey’s dad told her.

“my child is healthy.” bailey announced.

“excuse me?” her father said.

“he may not be with me tonight, but he's healthy …” bailey started but was interrupted by her father. 

“i didn't say he …”

“and he's well-loved. he's a well-loved boy. and he's a happy boy. and staying in an unhappy marriage, staying in an unhappy marriage, a marriage that i've outgrown, a marriage full of ultimatums and numbness and resentment. that is not the kind of life i want to model for my child. that is not what i want him to believe married love is. look, i know what's possible. i know what's out there for me because you taught me well. you and mom showed me what true love looks like. so i chose not to settle, and i'm happier for it, even if i'm alone at christmas.” bailey ranted, whilst everyone stared at her.

“my child is healthy, and i'm happy. and, you know, part of my happiness is the fact that i got to repair a woman's bowel and save her life today. and that's god's work, which makes this appropriate christmas dinner conversation.” bailey said, which everyone agreed.

“i'm happy. and my child is healthy. and that's enough for me today, dad. that's enough.”

“uh, green beans, anyone?” arizona asked as an ice breaker.

⋆◦★◦⋆

new year’s eve

“it’s new year’s eve.” lydia said, holding her daughter in her arms.

“i know.” mark said, playing with emily’s hands, making the baby laugh.

“she shows no signs or leaving-- no suitcase packed, nothing. i’m nice to her and she’s ok to me, but she might have overstayed her welcome just a bit.” lydia told mark sincerely. “talk to her right now, or no more sex for you.” 

lydia left the apartment with emily to get ready for her day at work.

“hey, zona, can you give me a ride?”

“yeah, of course.” arizona said, pouring herself a cup of coffee.

“thanks, let me just get emily ready to take to the hospital day care.”

lydia left the room to change and dress her daughter, who was about four and a half months old. she dressed the baby in a purple onesie and brought her to the kitchen, where she took a bottle out of the fridge and started feeding her while her and arizona walked to the car.

they made it to the hospital and lydia met arizona in nicholas’ room after dropping emily off.

“he’s in hypovolemic shock. he’s lost too much blood. and i didn’t want to have to do this, but we’re gonna have to put a tube down his throat to help him breathe.” arizona told the boy’s parents.

“nicholas.” his mom gasped.

“we need to tube him right now.” lydia said.

“don’t tube him. bag him till we get to the o.r.” derek said, walking into the room.

“the o.r.?”

“we finished the instruments. we’re gonna operate. i just need you to sign a consent form.” derek said.

“pretty dramatic timing, dr. shepherd.” lydia said, smiling.

“i like to make an entrance.”

⋆◦★◦⋆

a little later, they were in surgery, trying to fix nicholas’s nosebleeds.

“oh, how’s it handling?” arizona asked derek.

“it could bend a little more gently.” derek told the peds surgeon.

“don’t get all critical. thing cost me a fortune.” mark said to them.

“i could use one more day to practice. okay. inserting the clip applier.” derek announced.

“why don’t you try torquing it a little to get a different angle.” mark said, derek doing what he said. “there you go.”

“okay. there it is. got it. that’s the last clip.” derek said, lydia watching him help the boy.

“oh my god.” lydia said.

“ladies and gentlemen, we’re done here.” derek announced.

“nice work. beautiful.” mark said, admiring the work.

“oh, my god. you did it.” meredith said, happily.

“amazing.” lexie said as she and meredith hugged.

“hang on, look at the clock. and that’s, uh, seven, six…” derek counted down.

“five, four, three, two, one. happy new year!” everyone counted down.

lydia walked away from her spot next to lexie and meredith over to mark. the woman hugged him and the two kissed with their masks on. it really was a happy moment for everyone.


	10. ten

it was the new year and lydia now lived with mark and had some stuff at meredith’s house. alex wanted her to keep some things with him at meredith’s, so that’s exactly what she did. she liked that she could stay at meredith’s sometimes because it was just fun, and good for emily.

lydia was laying in bed with mark, the two smiling at each other when mark started talking. 

“i need something from you.” he stated.

lydia nodded her head and rolled over to kiss him deeply.

“well… that, too.” he said. “i need you to give sloan an ultrasound. it’s been almost three weeks.”

“can’t someone from o.b. do it?” lydia asked him, kissing him again.

“well, yeah, but, she likes you.” mark said, lydia rolling on top of him, engaging in a sensual make out session. “all the sloan’s do.”

the two were kissing, lydia on top of mark, when they heard a voice.

“hey, do we have any more--” sloan said, walking into her dad’s room. “oh! ew!” she yelled, seeing her dad making out with his girlfriend.

“sloan!” mark yelled.

lydia got off of him and laid back down, putting the pillow over her face. she took a deep breath and got up to put her robe on. she picked up emily from her bassinet and walked into the kitchen in time to hear mark apologize to sloan.

“she’s the one who didn’t knock before she came in.” lydia said.

“i’ll get some cereal this afternoon. how about some juice?” mark asked, giving sloan some juice before talking directly to her. “uh, lydia’s gonna give you an ultrasound today. why don’t you pick up some breakfast at the hospital?”

“it’s gonna be more.” sloan told her dad, the latter handing her some money.

“you need some for lunch, too?” he asked.

“yeah, yeah.” she said, while mark handed her some more twenty’s. lydia looked at her, wide eyed. 

“i’m gonna shower.” lydia stated, handing emily over to mark.

“oh, can you hold on a minute? i’m probably gonna have to hurl this.” sloan asked her.

“it’s fine. i’ll just go to my sister’s apartment then.” lydia told her with a smile.

lydia walked across the hall with her towel and opened the door to arizona’s apartment and saw cristina sitting, eating cereal and reading the paper. 

“sloan sloan monopolizing your bathroom again?” she asked, pausing from her cereal.

“yeah, your’s?” lydia asked.

“owen’s in mine.” cristina answered.

lydia walked to the other bathroom and opened the door to see her sister and callie making out in the shower. 

“oh my god!” she yelled. she covered her eyes with the towel and rushed out of the room. she walked into the kitchen and said, “they’re in there.”

“yeah, you should knock first.” cristina said, taking a bite of her cereal.

“i’m late. okay? my hair is dirty. i have child vomit on my boobs. and mark just gave sloan eighty bucks for a muffin and a sandwich.” lydia ranted to her friend.

“that’s quite a sandwich.” cristina joked.

lydia gave her an annoyed look. “she’s just gonna end up spending it on a pair of jeans that show off her butt crack, and then she’s gonna ask me for half of my pasta salad. i believe there’s so much more to her then she gives off but she needs to stop acting like this.”

“you sound like my mother.”

“um, knock much?” callie asked lydia, walking out of the bathroom with arizona while wrapping a towel around herself.

“i’m so sorry cal.” lydia said, running to the bathroom.

“oh, there’s no more hot water.” callie told the woman.

“honestly, not a problem right now.” she yelled, turning on the shower, feeling the cold water against her fingers.

lydia quickly hopped into the shower and let the icy water cover her body. she thought about sloan and mark and how she wanted to talk to sloan about money. she thought about emily and alex. ten minutes later the girl got out of the shower and quickly dried herself off and wrapped the towel around her.

⋆◦★◦⋆

later that morning, lydia was with sloan, giving the younger girl an ultrasound. it was going surprisingly well in lydia’s opinion until sloan asked her for money.

“hey, um, do you have any cash? i lost the headset to my phone.”

“how about you hold the phone up to your ear?” lydia asked sarcastically, still looking at the monitor. 

the woman instantly felt bad for her remark and apologized. “sorry, it’s just, you should have plenty of cash left over for a headset from your dad from what he gave you this morning.” 

sloan looked over at lydia and also felt bad for asking. the girl was starting to like lydia and she didn’t want to mess up the relationship the was starting to form between the two. “no, i’m sorry, i shouldn’t have asked you for money. you’re right. i probably have enough.”

“if you don’t have enough, let me know, i’ll help you out ok? i just won’t pay for the whole thing. we’re all making compromises.” lydia told sloan. “okay, here’s the head.”

sloan looked over at the monitor and chuckled. “it looks like an alien.”

“well it’s gonna be a very cute alien.” lydia smiles at sloan.

“a boy alien or girl?” sloan asked.

lydia looked at the monitor intensely. something wasn’t right with the baby and she didn’t know how to tell sloan.

“dude, does it have a thing or not?”

“no, i’m not looking at the sex. um i don’t…” lydia told her worriedly. “um, let’s go upstairs ok? there’s a better machine, we can get a better look.”

⋆◦★◦⋆

“hey is everything ok?” mark asked lydia, meeting her outside sloan’s room.

“i-uh, don’t know. something’s wrong with the baby.” lydia told her boyfriend worriedly. 

mark sighed and brought his girlfriend into a tight hug and kissed the top of her head. they walked into the room and met the with other doctor.

“see right there on the left thigh.” lydia pointed out.

“yeah. on his other ankle, too.” the doctor said.

“wait. it’s a boy?” sloan asked.

“i hadn’t gotten that far.” lydia sighed, crossing her arms.

“oh, sorry, congratulations!” the o.b. said. “uh, there’s a lot of swelling on the right foot. it’s very constricted.”

“what the hell are you talking about?” sloan asked.

“well the baby’s got strands of amniotic tissue wrapped around his legs. they’re called amniotic bands.” her father explained.

“there’s a danger of them comprising one of his limbs.” the doctor told sloan.

“so what? one of his legs is gonna l, like, fall off?” sloan asked nervously. 

lydia walked over to the girl and put her hand on her shoulder for comfort.

“that’s the worst-case scenario.” 

“he’s gonna have stumps?” sloan asked scaredly.

“we don’t know what we’re dealing with yet. whatever it is, we’re gonna take care of it.” mark told her comfortingly.

“i can’t have a stumpy baby. can’t you fix it?” the young girl asked the o.b.

“um, i don’t know.” she answered truthfully.

“you know, i have an idea. how about we don’t answer any patient questions with the phrase ‘um, i don’t know’?” mark said protectively. “let’s get a fetal m.r.i.”

“you know, i’m not sure if i’d recommend—.”

“i wasn’t talking to you. you’re done.” mark said.

⋆◦★◦⋆

mark wrapped his arm around lydia as they walked towards the elevators. “come on, let’s go meet addison.” mark told his girlfriend. 

“wait, addison’s coming?” lydia asked excitedly, smiling brightly.

the man chuckled, “yes, i asked her to come help with sloan.”

mark and addison’s past didn’t bother lydia at all. she was great friends with addison before she even knew mark. so she was very excited whenever addison came to visit.

the two stood in front of the elevators when they revealed a smiling addison montgomery.

“i adore you.” mark told the woman.

“i was in the middle of breakfast.” addison said to mark.

“addison!” lydia yelled, unhooking herself from mark to hug her friend.

addison reciprocated the hug and walked in the middle of her two friends.

“she had an m.r.i. right’s worse than the left.” mark said.

“i just need to say it once.” addison said.

“go ahead.” mark grumbled, making lydia laugh.

“grandpa.” addison laughed. “grandpa, grandpa, grandpa.” 

“oh, okay. that was four times.” mark said as addison put an arm around him. lydia laughed and left to go to sloan.

⋆◦★◦⋆

the room now consisted of arizona, mark, lydia, addison, and sloan. addison pointed out the bands on sloan’s baby’s legs.

“as the legs continue to grow, the bands will cut off his circulation. if we wait, we risk severe damage to the left leg, possible loss of the right entirely. but if we operate--22 weeks, it’s still risky.”

“but if you don’t operate, you’re not gonna kill the baby. we can rehabilitate the remaining part of his leg after he’s born, and we can fit him with a prosthesis. it’s entirely possible that he’ll walk.” arizona told sloan. 

lydia put a hand on sloan’s shoulder for comfort.

“oh my god.” sloan said nervously and turned to mark.

“honey, we’ve got options here. if we operate, dr. montgomery can remove the bands, he’’l be just fine. or we can wait a few weeks till he’s bigger and stronger, and we know the surgery is less risky.” mark told his daughter.

“well which one of you did he sleep with? well, besides lydia, obviously.” sloan asked the other two women in the room.

all the women in the room looked at mark strangely before arizona answered.

“oh, not me.”

“you told her?” addison asked mark, obviously very confused.

“she’s my kid. we were bonding.” mark said with a straight face.

“when i said talk to sloan this is not what i meant!” lydia said and slapped mark on the back.

“that is not how you bond with children.” addison told the man.

“i’m still getting the hang of it.”

“so you’re sure that he didn’t, like, knock you up and leave you with a child to raise on your own or something?” sloan asked. “you’re not just, like, really pissed and you’re trying to get revenge?”

“no, it was a long time ago.” addison assured the girl. “the fact is, mark, your father, is a good guy and i think you’re a good kid, and i’m gonna do everything i can to help you with your baby.”

“okay, well, let’s just get these things off his legs right now.” sloan said.

“i’ll book an o.r.”

⋆◦★◦⋆

addison chose lydia and lexie to scrub in on sloan’s procedure. lydia did the ultrasound and lexie stood there and watched. 

“okay. got the first band. let’s move down so i can take a look at the second.” addison said.

“like that?” lydia asked, doing what addison said.

“good.” addison said. “why can’t i grab his leg?”

“problem?” mark asked.

“no, it’s just one of the bands is holding the leg in place, making it a little difficult to get around. can you move the ultrasound up here?” addison asked. 

lydia did as she was told.

“oh, come on.”

“what’s the matter?” mark asked addison.

“her uterine arteries are engorged. but the only way in is in between them. okay, i’m gonna need another trocar. you want to hold this?” addison asked lexie. 

the girl nodded and addison gave it to lexie to hold.

“are you sure you have enough room? those arteries are huge.” mark pointed out, coming closer.

“that’s why i’m going to be very, very careful. scalpel.” addison said.

“what happens if you nick them?” mark asked addison.

“dr. robbins.”

“she could bleed out. they both could.” lydia told mark.

“i don’t like it. it’s too dangerous.”

“mark, i have assessed the risk factors i’m 95% confident i can get around the arteries. i’m choosing to continue my surgery.” addison said.

“and i don’t like the other 5%. you hit any one of those, she bleeds out right on this table.” mark told addison.

“look i get that you’re nervous-” addison started.

“i’m a surgeon, and i’m looking at a time bomb in a uterus. shut it down. now addison.”

lydia and lexie watched as mark and addison stared at each other before addison decided to close her up.

⋆◦★◦⋆

it was a few hours later and sloan had woken up from surgery. lydia and lexie were finishing up her chart and mark was explaining to his daughter why they couldn’t do the surgery.

“if dr. montgomery had hit it during the procedure… it's dangerous.” mark said, sitting on the edge of sloan’s bed.

“well, what about that band that's squeezing his thigh? he's not even gonna have a knee?” sloan asked her father.

“sloan, you coulda died.” 

“well, i can't have a gimpy kid.” she said to him.

“honey, i know i haven't been your father for long, but if you say "gimp" one more time, i'm gonna smack you.” mark told her sternly. 

“you don't get it.” sloan said, her voice breaking, “he needs legs. okay? he doesn't have a dad, and he's got a stupid, slutty mom. don't you see? i've already hurt him enough by giving him me as a mother. he needs feet.”

“sloan--” mark started.

“look, i don't know how to take care of any baby, okay? i can't have one that's hurt. i just can't handle it. my mom doesn't even talk to me. i'm doing this alone. please.” sloan said, almost crying.

“listen, you're not stupid. and you're not slutty. the sloans are a passionate people.”

lydia moved from her spot next to lexie to sloan’s left. 

“you dragged yourself across the country so that you could get help taking care of this baby. that's not being stupid. that's being a mom.” lydia said to sloan.

sloan looked to her left and leaned over to give the woman a hug. mark felt so happy that his daughter and the woman he loved were getting along.

“i'm not gonna let anything happen to you or the baby.” mark said to sloan.

“go to l.a. addison said 95%. that’s not that bad. let her do the surgery.” lexie told mark.

“looks like we’re going to l.a.” mark said. lydia smiled as she watched her boyfriend hug his daughter.

“you’re not going to do this alone.” mark said. “hey. stay. after the baby’s born, live with me and lydia. raise the baby with us. i’m still learning about being a dad and you don’t know anything about being a mom. maybe we could figure it all out together.”

“really?” sloan asked, shocked.

lydia’s smile slightly faltered. mark didn’t notice, but lexie did. sure, she could stand the girl for a few months but forever? lydia had her own baby to take care of. 

lexie and lydia left the room to give mark and sloan some privacy. the two girl talked about sloan moving in as they made their way to the nurses station.

“so, what do you think of sloan moving in with mark full time?” lexie asked the girl.

“oh my god, i can see it now. once she has the baby she’s going to leave him with us while she going shopping with her friends.” lydia told lexie, “i mean, i have my own kid, i won’t have time to parent hers.”

lexie gave the chart to the nurse and the two girls headed for the elevator.

“i get it. i mean he didn’t even ask you how you felt about it.” lexie said to lydia.

lydia pressed a button and the elevator doors closed. “i know, but i’m sure we’re going to talk about it later. i hope it doesn’t screw everything up though.”

⋆◦★◦⋆

lydia opened the door to mark's apartment and found him sitting on the couch, skimming through a book. the girl walked in and shut the door behind her. she made her way over to mark and sat down beside him. 

mark sighed and set the book down. “i should’ve asked you first, but i was so excited. and i was so sure it was the right thing. and you know why? ‘cause of you.”

lydia opened her mouth to say something but mark kept talking.

“since you, i know, for the first time in my life, what the right thing is.”

“i’m happy for you. i really am.” lydia told him. “something happened today. you became a dad, a real one. not just a second father figure to emily. and sloan, against all odds, became a mom. i want to be there for you and some part of me wants to be there for her. but have you thought of everything that goes into this?”

“what do you mean?” mark asked his girlfriend.

“i mean, this apartment obviously doesn’t have enough space for five people. there will be two babies and a young adult. that’s a lot to deal with.”

“i know, but i’ve been looking at houses and i really want this to work.” mark said, taking her small hands into his larger ones.

“we can try.” lydia told him with a small smile.


End file.
